P.I. - David Arnosti
 
  • B.A. 1978-1982 (Lawrence University, Appleton, Wisconsin).
  • 1982-1983 Thomas J. Watson Fellow; nuclear armament studies in Europe.
  • 1984 Internship at Foreign Policy magazine in Washington, D.C.
  • Ph.D. studies1984-1989 (University of California, Berkeley) with RNA polymerase pioneer Mike Chamberlin, where I studied bacterial sigma factors.
  • Postdoc1990-1992 (University of Zurich) with Walter Schaffner, discoverer of the transcriptional enhancer; work on mechanism of activation by the Oct-2 transcription factor, and my first introduction to Drosophila technology, courtesy of Markus Noll.
  • Postdoc1993-1996 (U. California, San Diego) with Mike Levine, who has made key contributions to our understanding of transcriptional regulation of development, including discovery of the homeobox.
  • I know, Bill Gates looks a bit like me. No, I use a G4 Powerbook, so that's where the similarity ends.

Current Lab Members   (Previous lab members, Photo archive)

Postdoctoral Researchers
  Dr. Sandhya Payankaulam received her training in India at Bharathiar University (M.S. 1991) and the University of Madras (Ph.D. 1997) in Biochemistry. She joined the Arnosti laboratory in 2003. Sandhya has in short order become an all-round Drosophila molecular geneticist and biochemist, and is currently carrying out a biochemical analysis of cofactors of the Knirps repressor.
  Walid Fakhouri is a postdoctoral research associate, joined the Arnosti's lab in Oct. 2005. He is working on computational analysis of cis-regulatory transcriptional grammar and developing predictive mathematical model for gene regulation. His first postdoc training was in Frances Trail's lab at MSU working on genetic effects of endocrine disruptor atrazine on Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. His graduate education was in Phytopathology at University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany and undergraduate education in Plant Bacteriology at University of Jordan, Jordan.  He thinks science is fun and likes new challenges.

Graduate Students
  Carlos Martinez is a graduate student in the Genetics Program at MSU. His undergraduate education was in Biochemical Engineering at the Catholic University of Valparaiso, Chile. He has engineered a modular system that allows him to target specific repression domains to promoters in the Drosophila embryo, and is using chromatin immunoprecipitation methods to understand biochemical changes mediated by repressors in vivo. Carlos always has awesome lunches, thanks to Eu.
  Martin Buckley is a graduate student in the Genetics Program, having gained his undergraduate training at St. Louis University. Besides his long, intense studies of Drosophila Retinoblastoma tumor suppressor cofactors, he is known to put in long, intense miles on his cool road bike.
  Li Li received her B.S. from the University of Science and Technology of China. At MSU she is a graduate student in the Microbiology and Molecular Genetics program. Her work in the lab is researching the mechanism of long range transcription repression of Hairy in Drosophila. In her free time Li enjoys singing karaoke and canoeing, but her favorite thing is doing chromatin immunoprecipitations.
  Yang Zhang is a graduate student in the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology program. He completed his undergraduate training at the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei. His research focuses on the functional significance of the isoforms of the transcription corepressor CtBP. Yang is interested in photography and always has his eye out for a good shot. He also likes to spend time working out at the gym.
  Rupinder Sayal completed his masters in Biotechnology at the Thapar Institute in Patiala, India. At MSU he is graduate student in the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology program. He is working on deciphering cis-regulatory transcriptional grammar in Drosophila using biological and computational approaches. Rupinder is a big fan of music, particularly Rock and Punjabi. He is also interested in the human mind and likes to read psychology books.
  Pankaj Acharya is a graduate student in the Microbiology and Molecular Genetics program at MSU. He comes to Michigan State from Kathmandu, Nepal where he studied microbiology as an undergraduate at Tribhuvan University. He is investigating the role of the COP9 signalosome in Retinoblastoma protein regulation. Pankaj is a vegetarian and a geography enthusiast who likes studying maps. He always enjoys going out into the hills for a good hike.
Ahmet Ay entered the Mathematics program as a graduate student after completing his undergraduate work at Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey. He is working with Dr. Chichia Chiu in mathematics and the Arnosti lab on studying mathematical modeling and analysis of DNA transcriptional network. Ahmet is always thinking about something like the political situation in Turkey while he cooks or his mathematical modeling while he watches Family Guy.

Undergraduate Students
  Evan Dayringer is a math major working in the lab through the Undergraduate Research Training in Biology and Mathematics program. He is helping to develop a mathematical model for transcriptional grammar in Drosophila. One of Evan’s big interests in addition to his work in the lab is cooperative businesses. He also maintains a vegetarian diet and loves to use Wikipedia.
  Stephanie Duperon is a human biology major. She is a member of the Undergraduate Research Group through the Genetics Department. Her work is testing to see if proteosome mediated degradation of the Retinoblastoma (Rbf) protein is important for its function. Stephanie is a close follower of world politics. She’s also a long distance runner who is always challenging herself to go farther each time she sets out for a run.
  Andrew Armstrong is a summer student from Kalamazoo College majoring in biology. He is working with Sandhya Payankaulam on investigating the genetic and functional interactions between the Knirps and Groucho proteins involved in transcription repression in Drosophila. In addition to working in the lab he enjoys doing things like trying to hit better backhands on the tennis court or learning how to play new things on the piano.
  Jessica Fuller is a biochemistry and zoology double major. She is a multitalented lab assistant who also does things like competitive cheerleading, scrapbooking and photography.
   
Jackie Brosius is an undergraduate Professorial Assistant who has been working in our lab since her freshman year. She is learning the ropes of molecular biology as she assists with the Retinoblastoma project.
 

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